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The phone rings and the first question is “why do I need an appraisal for my taxidermy mounts“? Answering this question is easy, do you realize what you have invested in your trophies? Do you know the current replacement value of each taxidermy mount? Most hunters have never stopped to actually think about the investment that they have in all their taxidermy mounts. Also they don’t have a list or pictures of each mount.

It is very important to have all your mounts cataloged and multiple photographs of every trophy mount available incase of a disaster. Keeping an electronic copy in the cloud or burnt on a CD in multiple places is and excellent idea. You could also have a bound copy or two at different locations, copies can be printed and bound at most office supply stores.

I would highly suggest getting a certified personal property appraiser to do this all for you, they will provide you an insurance appraisal. This report should include three photographs of every taxidermy mount along with the current replacement values for each trophy. The appraiser should deliver to you at least one printed and bound report and a PDF copy of this report. I would suggest burning the PDF on a number of CDs and file them away at other locations then where your trophies are located.

So the answer to why you need an insurance appraisal for your taxidermy mounts is because you don’t have one and the information is vital to have available. Getting an appraisal is a small investment to cover your large investment. Your appraiser is required to keep on file your information for 5 years, this is another place where there will be a copy of your investment in your taxidermy mounts.

You can search taxidermy appraiser and find a qualified person on the internet, feel free to call them and ask questions.

The question came up the other day “I purchased all my taxidermy mounts in the 80s so why do I need an appraisal? All I have to do is add up the receipts to figure out what I can deduct from my taxes.” This statement could be very wrong and cause future problems.

IRS Form 526 states “If you donate taxidermy property to a qualified organization, your deduction is limited to your basis in the property or its fair market value, whichever is less. This applies if you prepared, stuffed, or mounted the property or paid or incurred the cost of preparing, stuffing, or mounting the property. Your basis for this purpose includes only the cost of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the property. Your basis does not include transportation or travel costs”.

IRS Form 526 states original purchase price or fair market value whichever one is less. So you bought your mounts in the 80s, and you figure your receipts will be less. Let’s discuss this, the market was very strong until 2008 following that the market on most luxury or extra items went way down.

Fair market value right now could be lower than the original purchase price. The only way to know is to have your taxidermy mounts appraised and compare the two amounts. Assuming that the original cost was lower could cause trouble without getting a professional personal property appraiser to review your amounts.

There is also the very real possibility that your taxidermy mounts have depreciated mainly due to age and the care they received in the past 30 years. Your taxidermy mounts could have faded, or cracked due to the lack of maintenance that is required for optimum longevity.

So the only way to get the proper answer is to hire a Personal Property Appraiser and have a fair market value appraisal completed before tax time.

Three Reasons Why You Need a Personal Property Appraiser

There are many reasons why you will have the need of a Personal Property Appraiser in your life time and this article is going to cover three reasons. An Appraiser can do many things to help in your life. When you are in need of cataloging or placing a value on your many collectables call an appraiser.

One thing is they can help protect your investment in collectables from art to zebra rugs and everything in between, by providing a complete inventory of all your items in question.

Collectables include;

Antiques

Art work

Bronzes

Vehicles and Equipment

Coins

Stamp collections

Gun collections

Precious Metals

Quilts

Sport Memorabilia

Taxidermy mounts

Autographs

Etc

Second benefit of hiring a Personal Property Appraiser is they are unbiased and not involved in any disputes of value when it comes to an appraisal. They use recent market activity to figure out the current value that is needed for your collection and provide you with a report. This is very important when it comes to tax donations, IRS requires an appraisal before accepting the donation.

The third reason is they are very helpful is, they catalog your collectables in one report and supply you with their current value. A Personal Property Appraiser should provide you a printed copy and an electronic copy on a PDF for your safe keeping. This is very helpful in times of disaster to refer to, or when there is an inheritance involved and the children want to know what a parent had and its current value.

There are many other reasons you need a Personal Property Appraiser and these reasons will present themselves many times in your life. Feel free to give one a call and discuss your needs with them.